Haven’t we all heard the axiom, “Exceptions prove the rule”? And also “One swallow does not make a summer”? Well, this was the case in Hindi cinema with two genres in particular. Comedies and biopics were not really welcomed with open arms until the millennium. Happily, this has changed since then and audiences, exposed increasingly to world and now even non-Hindi Indian cinema, are showing that they will always endorse a film that is value for their time and money. Genres are not of prime importance anymore.
From Hera Pheri to Bhaag Milkha Bhaag: How comedies and biopics finally found their place in Hindi cinema after the new millennium
Biopics
But why is this so? Has the audience become more open-minded? We contacted veteran exhibitor and distributor Raj Bansal, who is very upfront in his view. He said, “Biopics are a case of a trend latching on. When one film works, everyone wants to follow!”
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013) on athlete Milkha Singh was perhaps the first to succeed in a major way among the biopics. “It was a sports biopic,” pointed out Bansal. “And the only other such big successes were M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story and Dangal three years later. But even Mary Kom was an average success. However, later sports biopics all crumbled, including well-made films like Chandu Champion and Maidaan.”
However, biopics outside sports have also done well, including of unknown people, especially Airlift, Neerja, Pad-Man and Sky Force. The historical movies on celebrated names like Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior and Chhaava (as Emperor Chhatrapati Shambhaji Maharaj was called) have done massive business, but not all have worked, vindicating Bansal’s theory, like Manikarnika: The Rani of Jhansi or Samrat Prithviraj.
Sports or otherwise, Bansal therefore feels that a biopic predominantly must be on a prominent rather than unknown entity, and, even more importantly, should be mounted well with carefully planned budgets.
So the scenario isn’t foolproof. In the past, biopics were a strict no-no except for Shaheed (1965), Shirdi Ke Sai Baba (1977) and Nache Mayuri (1986). Movies on even prominent names like Rani Laxmibai, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Sardar Patel were rejected, and even Veer Savarkar (2001) had a restricted release, though it did great business in Maharashtra.
Today, films like Emergency (on Indira Gandhi), Manikarnika (on Laxmibai again), Sardar Udham and Sam Bahadur are not really audience fodder. In 2002, four films were made after Shaheed on Shaheed Bhagat Singh, and one could not even get a release. The remaining three flopped.
Clearly, the issue is audience resonance. But the fact remains that now, biopics are here to stay!
Comedies
Other than a Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958) and Aankhen (1993), there has never been a super-hit comedy in our cinema. Bansal attributes this to the fact that other genres were accepted better, like family melodramas that are all but defunct nowadays. This writer personally feels that TV soaps are in a large way responsible for the decline of the classic rona-dhona family fare that thrived for decades.
However, Bansal opines that stress in daily life has gone up so much, which he declares was never the case earlier, that people now find light comedies or stylized actioners the ideal go-to genres in cinema.
The many comedies of Mehmood, Kishore Kumar, Bhagwan and I.S. Johar were either modest successes or flops then. A few, like Pyar Kiye Jaa, Padosan, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Angoor and Andaz Apna Apna had lukewarm initial runs but grew into cult classics. The standout feature pre-2000 was that there were very few total comedies among them: most had strong elements of emotions and drama, and sometimes even crime. The humour too was often crude or farcical.
The ‘clean’ exceptions came in a few films of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee, and Chupke Chupke, Gol Maal and Khatta Meetha were decided hits but never blockbusters. On the naughtier side, Mukherjee’s Sabse Bada Sukh was a disaster, but B.R. Chopra’s masterful Pati Patni Aur Woh and Chatterjee’s Shaukeeen (the first example of numerology I know!) were both hits. However, in most of these cases, there was a strong element of drama and emotions, and as mentioned earlier, none were super-hits.
It was inarguably the 2000 Hera Pheri that turned the tide for laugh-riots. Priyadarshan soon became the most in-demand director for comedies that had witty, classy and even uproarious humour that could be watched both with elders and children. His later delights included Hungama, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Malamaal Weekly and more.
The naughty element came in with the Masti franchise, Garam Masala, No Entry and Kyaa Kool Hain Hum while Golmaal, Housefull, Dhamaal and Welcome were among the wholesome funfests. To this, the new addition is the horror comedy, first experienced with success in Priyadarshan’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa, which has also become a hit franchise, and Dinesh Vijan’s Go Goa Gone (in the ‘zombie’ zone), the Stree franchise, Munjya and more. Individual triumphs included All The Best, Bol Bachchan and Awara Pagal Deewana.
Clearly, there are cogent reasons for the kind of ‘content’ that works in cinema and the trends that either come and go, or remain. For us movie buffs, it is just that two more items, one of them in a much more palatable form, have been added to the buffet spread that is Hindi cinema.
Also Read: Gulshan Devaiah, Radhika Apte and Sai Tamhankar REACT as Hunterrr gears up for re-release on April 4: “The film has gone on to achieve cult status”
More Pages: Bhaag Milkha Bhaag Box Office Collection , Bhaag Milkha Bhaag Movie Review
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